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Augmented Intelligence to Support Compliance

We have always believed the job of regulators is not an easy one but the increasing use of technology within financial services may help them achieve better results.

A good example of this has been the recent announcement by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission that it is seeking assistance to research and analyse voice analytics technology to help achieve better regulatory compliance. That follows the publication of the Royal Commission Report in Australia that we have previously commented on, which criticised not only product providers, but also regulators themselves.

Against this backdrop, it is now estimated that the global spend on cognitive AI technologies increased to $25bn last year, a 45% increase on 2017, and that banks spending in this area will continue to grow, to become second only to the retail sector. The use of AI to audit call centre activities is becoming one of the fastest growing uses of such technologies.

This move, in our view is overdue; historic methods of carrying out audit samples ‘scratch the surface’ – giving the illusion of compliance based scientific processes, but without providing any real depth. There are two main sample calculation methods, both of which are flawed, but prior to the adoption of AI technology were the best available calculation methods. The first is to monitor a random sample using a calculation to provide a 95% level of confidence with a 5% margin of error, but because of the nature of calls the manual assessment aspects are hugely time consuming and activities are often scaled back to reduce costs. The other method, monitoring calls per agent, is limited to a small sample (usually around 1%) and adds subjectivity to the analysis and that can create tensions and divisions internally, further draining management time.

By comparison, using AI to undertake the analysis allows compliance departments to gain valuable insights for 100% of customer interactions without emotion or bias. Such analysis enables oversight teams to identify issues and focus attention where it is most needed – this in turn enables firms to improve customer outcomes. Yabber is already helping companies to improve compliance by identifying high risk calls, mis-selling issues and consumer detriment situations. To ensure your company maximises its compliance responsibilities and helps improve customer outcomes, please give us a call.